News & Stories
Hanover. TUI is economising everywhere, but not in the hotel business. Here investment is the word, whereas in other sectors costs are massively cut and staff made redundant.
Frankfurt/M. The tour operator DER that has been active in tourism for more than 100 years maintains its own event management department. This is unusual. This year, the company has restructured its corporate activities. The recently started collaboration with the Australian travel management specialist FCm Travel Solutions has led to immediate growth of foreign business. Thanks to the complete service and inclusion of all other DER subsidiaries such as the hotel database, the accommodation providers benefit as well.
Salzburg. In Austria, the tourism trade fairs are currently facing a radical change. A competition between Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck is taking shape. Hoteliers and tourism officials from western Austria are warily observing the Austrian Travel Business tourism trade fair, which will be staged on an international basis for the first time in 2007, while the event organiser of Reed is newly positioning the "All Mountain" trade fair, among other things, with an alpine architectural symposium. The Austrians definitely plan to incorporate their western and eastern neighbouring countries.
Singapore. The city of Singapore realises its mega plans: Just recently the government has entrusted a consortium with the construction of the "Resorts World at Sentosa" on a leisure island of 343.000 sq m in size. There, several of Singapore's "resorts in a resort" are to be built. The total investment volume stands at 2.6 billion Euro.
Cannes. There were many satisfied smiles to be seen at the recent ILTM - the International Luxury Travel Market in Cannes. This year was the fifth time the trade fair took place, yet still not everyone is aware of its existence. Amongst insiders the small fair is considered one of the most effective market places of the entire year.
Frankfurt/M. The German Centre for Tourism is looking confidently into 2007. According to their predictions, the number of overnight stays made in 2007 will remain at the levels seen in 2006 even without the Football World Cup. Activities surrounding the arts and culture together with Germany's top hotels are the reason.
Vienna. Only a handful of completely new hotels is about to open in Austria at the start of the winter season compared to 1,400 new beds in alpine hut villages located off the beaten track away from the big tourist centres. The investment climate has changed in the alpine hotel industry.
New York. US-based travel agencies are no longer satisfied with constantly declining commissions and the "lowest price guarantee" of the big chains. They are compensating their loosing revenue by charging a service fee for booking the right hotel and making additional reservations for dinner or buying theater tickets.
Hamburg. Invoices for a flight, a rental car or a hotel room come with many surprises in Germany. Numerous fees like airport tax or service fees, taxes, kerosene charge or insurances are added to the normal rate. Apart from this, numerous kinds of fees are not even mentioned. They are secretly included by the hoteliers, car-rental services or airlines in the basic fee. Are travelling hoteliers also aware of this?